Centralized Network Management

since I recently became a network administrator I was looking for the best centralized network management solution . and since all devices in our network is made by Cisco, I went to the Cisco website. That helped me! I found a program called Cisco Network Assistant (CNA). I even didn't know what was the devices IPs! but simply by providing the subnet mask CNA searched the entire network and it detected Cisco devices after approximately 26 minutes. after that simply I created a community with all detected devices. simple and beautiful!

It is really nice to manage the whole network just from a single workstation. but it would be better if we had multiple monitors connected to that PC. one for monitoring and the other for navigating and configuring and remote control and other operations.

CNA can configure, monitor and troubleshoot the devices in your network. Also I think I need to use MRTG and SmokePing too. both are free and very useful. and both of them are platform independent and they work with RRD and some Perl components. maybe I'll talk about configuring MRTG and SmokePing latter.

there are many tools out there. and if you know about other handy network tools, please let me know.

Windows 7 RC1

Today Microsoft released the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 for developers who are members of Microsoft’s MSDN and TechNet programs. apparently others can get it on 5th may. Release candidate is the final version before the official release.

Microsoft windows 7 will take less memory and will be more efficient. It will have less minimum system requirements. It has better look and performance than Windows Vista. It's interesting that even Windows 7 beta version was more stable and reliable than Windows Vista. This time it looks like Microsoft listened better to user's feedback and opinions.

Anyway I can't wait to go for it! and this time I'm gonna install the 64-bit version because of RAM limitations on 32-bit version. Currently I have 4GB of RAM installed in my PC but the Windows XP 32-bit version can address only 3.25GB of that. some amount of it's capacity is just wasting! not interesting! So it's time to change why not Windows 7?!

Persepolis

I told you guys about Shiraz trip, well it's a picture I took from Persepolis ( I mean Takht-e-Jamshid). I took many many pictures but I can't put it all here! but I really like this one!
In Persepolis there was a big & very very beautiful ancient palace named Apadana and some other masons arround it. when eskandar maghdooni occupied there, he set the place on fire. I don't know what he was thinking?! what a poor culture!!!... anyway when I think about Hakhamanesh empire I feel power and pride! I like my country Iran to be like that years.

for more information about Persepolis click here.
and here is a virtual tour.

DSLR vs. P&S

one day before Norouz I bought a DSLR camera. it's a Nikon D90. it's a great Digital SLR camera with live view technology and either it's the first SLR with ability to video recording. it's kind of surprise! cause it can records video in HD format and 720p quality using jpeg Motion technology.

I was so surprised by image quality at high ISOs. I couldn't believe it, the default ISO was set to 800. WwowW :-O!!! you can see the sample Photos in different ISOs on the Internet. It can control the noise level in high ISO images very well.
the only problem in the camera was the low focus speed in Auto mode when you are using the live view instead of view finder, the camera doesn't focus automatically in video recording (Oops!!!), and hey it's a pricey camera ;( I spent lots of money on that, but I'm not disappointed of course ;)

if you are going to buy a digital camera you should know what type of camera is better for you. there are two major types :

1- Point and shoot (p&s) or compact

2- Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR)

p&s cameras are usually easier, less weighted, more compact, cheaper and simpler. The main advantage of an SLR camera over the point-and-shoots is that you can change the lenses so you can have exactly the right lens for the subject you're shooting.

There are a bunch of advantages of SLR cameras over the more compact point-and-shoots:

• You can expand your system to match your interests. If you suddenly get interested in photographing tiny things, just get a macro lens, and you're in business.
• Upgrading is easy. If a fantastic new camera body comes out, you can replace your old one, and all your old lenses will continue to work.
• Almost every level of equipment quality is available - you're limited only by your pocketbook. With a point-and-shoot, you get the lens and flash that comes with your camera, and that's it.

When you look through the viewfinder, you actually look through some prisms and mirrors, and you wind up looking through the lens. When you trip the shutter, the mirror flips out of the way, and the scene that is projected on the film is exactly what you saw through the viewfinder. If you put on a different lens, you automatically see a different scene through the viewfinder.

choosing a P&S or DSLR camera is not so easy. you have to think about every aspects and more details to decide... anyway I think having a good camera is necessary for capturing moments of your life!

Oops!

I was busy for a while and couldn't update the blog. sorry for that!

anyway happy new year to all Iranian friends all over the world. best wishes for you guys for the new year!

I was on a trip to Shiraz in the new year, and on the way back I fell asleep when I was driving! and then car got out of the road suddenly, we was almost dead! but just god saved us. no injury, nothing! just my car got damaged. All four of my tires were slashed and they were all out of use absolutely! and some more more damages of coarse! anyway, I'm still alive ;) ... never mind. let it go.

you can see my car while it's being lifted by a truck crane. the photo was taken by my new camera!
so the moral of the story is not driving when you are tired.
hey don't blame on me, because I was looking to find a place to stop the car for a few minutes; but there wasn't any!
In some roads there was a small parking areas every (for example 10) kilometers, and there was a phone booth too. it's very good & useful. but that damn road hadn't such places. anyway be careful while driving!

my personal hobby

Oh yeah, that's my room where I make my music songs and do all the other stuff I'm interested in.

Music is one of my personal hobbies. My songs doesn't publish anywhere but I like to share it with my friends. So I uploaded some of my songs and you can download it from links at the end.

this songs are not new, in fact the last song I composed named "Overburned Phoenix" was in the year 2008 and it wasn't finished yet but when I was working on that, my computer faces some problems and I had to reinstall my Windows and the problem was that I forgot to backup my files on drive c and bang!!! All that beautiful songs were still under work was gone! what a misery ;( In fact I lost all the project files but one mp3 file. It was an unfinished extracted mp3 file for Overburned Phoenix project. I had very better ideas in my mind for this song to reflect the concepts that it was supposed to expose but... .

There was a work of art among that songs that I really liked it and I never extracted it from the project file so I lost it completely. too bad! But I will make something like that again!

I used very good recovery programs but recovered files were not recognizable by the program Sonar.

heh ... funny story, Most of my songs were composed when I was in the middle of my exams!!

Anyway I hope you enjoy the songs.

======================

this is a live performance of the famous Love Story:

http://www.4shared.com/file/87941549/36f08868/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Love_Story_live_performance_with_choir.html [3,488 KB]

the following song is one of the first mature songs I've ever created. It's for around year 2000 or 2001:

http://www.4shared.com/file/87947403/96e09199/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Dance6_Bs.html [10,404 KB]

this is the same song above but remixed by Virtual DJ Pro program. as recording method in this program was real time recording, so there is some problems in the song. and i did it just one time not anymore! for example at the beginning of the song you will notice the volume is dropped down suddenly! heh sorry for that, but it really worth it to listen:
http://www.4shared.com/file/87954108/282c0ca4/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Dance6_Bs_REMIX.html [6,686 KB]

this one is the first song that I wrote all the notes in the song by myself. Actually it has just tow tracks. one is the grand piano and the other is Yamaha drums:

http://www.4shared.com/file/87947785/b51c00fd/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Drums.html [880 KB]

and here it is the Overburned Phoenix:
http://www.4shared.com/file/87951154/6b3344f8/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Overburned_Phoenix_unfinished_192.html [6,180 KB]

at the end there are tow songs named "Hidden Feelings" and "New Personality" that they both belong to 2006 :

http://www.4shared.com/file/87959233/64ffe06b/Ali_Mirzaei_-_Hidden_Feelings.html [5,292 KB]

http://www.4shared.com/file/87979684/64a657bf/Ali_Mirzaei_-_New_Personality_High.html [6,662 KB]

movie release types

if you ever download movies from internet, so you saw pirated movies or prereleased or completed versions of movies avalable here and there. actualy they have some deferents in video and audio quality. here is a summerized information about these pirated movie release types:

CAM

Rarity: Common

Quality: Low

This is a copy of a movie made in the cinema using a camcorder or a similar device. The quality is usually very poor and has added visual affects such as people walking infront of the camera, darkness and tilted angles. There are also negative audio affects such as people coughing, laughing, eating etc.

========================================

TS, TELESYNC

Rarity: Common

Quality: Low video, high audio

This is a copy of a movie where the video is made in a cinema using a camcorder or similar device and the audio is then synchronised with a secondary audio recording with the source likely being a direct feed from the cinema's sound system or captured from an FM radio transmission meant for hearing-impaired customers.

========================================

WP, WORKPRINT

Rarity: Very rare

Quality: Fair

A copy made from a usually unfinished version of a film produced by the film studio. This typically has missing after effects and overlays, and is rarely the same as the final theatrical release. Some workprints have various watermarks and time index markers running. They could even be uncut versions and missing some material that would appear in the final product.

========================================

SCR, DVDSCR, VHSSCR, SCREENER, DVD-SCREENER, VHS-SCREENER

Rarity: Fairly Common

Quality: Slightly lower than DVDRip

These are early DVD or VHS releases of movies often sent to film reviewers, executives and academy members for review purposes. These normally have messages overlaid warning that it is a promotional copy and to report it if you have bought said film. Also, many studios release screeners with intermittent black and white scenes to deter resale of the film. The quality is usually slightly lower than a DVDRip due to the smaller investment in DVD mastering for a limited run.

========================================

R5

Rarity: Common

Quality: Slightly lower than DVDRip

An R5 is actually a form of TC (TeleCine) but produced by the studio to use as the basis for digital releases. The difference between an R5 and a final DVDRiP is that an R5 has not gone through post processing and doesnt include any extra features. The name R5 comes from DVD Region 5 which covers Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa, Central and South Asia, Mongolia and North Korea where R5's are released by studios to try and combat piracy.

from pretome.net

virtual studio

today I was downloading some VST plugins for using in Cake Walk Sonar. I have a Korg PA 500 keyboard in my room. It is a great keyboard and I really like it. But when it comes to sequencing your song, it's better to find something more useful. Because when you need to edit your song and move or copy your notes to another place it sucks! the best way to do that is using a sequencer software in your PC. I currently use Cake Walk Sonar, but there is other good sequencers available too.

But I was going to talk about something else. you know it is good to have a hardware MIDI device like a synthesizer but some times you need to use extra devices to do a particular job. If you don't want to spend lots of money for that, Then the best way is to use virtual devices. There are many virtual devices for free or in very cheap price!

The virtual devices and effects are available in different types:

• DirectX Effects = DX
• DirectX Instruments = DXI
• VST Audio Effects = VST (VST = Virtual Studio Technology)
  
• VST Instruments = VSTI
  
• MIDI Effects = MFX
• and others!
  

Maybe there are other virtual effects or instruments out there that I don't know about them. But the point is that, it is very easy to get these great tools, I mean it is a good opportunity that these expensive instruments are available for everybody to try them for free or using them in a very cheap price! right? so what are you waiting for? at least by using them, you can understand the basic concepts of the electronic music.

VST is more common and popular. you can use them as plugins for your VST host. Of course any program has it's own plugin format but VST has a standard interface that most advanced sequencers support it. usually there is a common folder for VST plugins. And all you have to do is to copy the dll file into that folder.
in this link you can see a list of VST hosts with additional information about them:
http://ygrabit.steinberg.de/~ygrabit/public_html/vstgui/listhost.html

you can find many basic and advanced devices like Subtractors, Oscillators, adders, other effects or even samplers, synthesizers and so on in VST format.

here is a site with great free VST plugins to download:

http://www.insidehw.com/Software/Multimedia/Best-Free-VST-Plugins.html

enjoy it!

firefox: resolving memory leak issues

Yes, firefox is a great browser. But it has some memory management issues. I mean there is a memory leak (or garbage memory) problem. It means that firefox consumes memory without any use. even sometimes you can see in the Windows Task Manager that the Mem Usage of firefox in the Processes tab is increasing constantly!!!

There is a simple solution that doesn't fix it completely, but makes it better to some extends. This is not a fix for memory leak but it affects it. It will move firefox to your hard drive when you minimize it, and as a result it will take up less than 10mb of memory while minimized. this is one of the options in the firefox that does not included in the standard user interface. so if you want to enable it, follow the instructions bellow:

1- in the address bar type "about:config" and press enter. by doing this you can access to varable configuration console. it's something like windows registry.

2- right click somewhere on the page and select new boolean, and in the poped up window type "config.trim_on_minimize" and then press enter.

3- now select True and then press enter again.

4- now restart firefox and it's done!

if you are interested to working or understanding about About:config entries, there is a good reference and here is a link:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries

and here is some secrets and tweeks:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9020880

have fun and good luck!

Tera era

yes it's happening now! we are moving toward the terabytes HDD drives.

of course it's about a year or even more that 1 terabyte drives came out (first by Hitachi), but i mean it's moving to the mainstream market now. mainstream market ranged from 160GB to 750GB. but in the near future we will talk about terabytes in the market.

increasing personal data by using more music files and high quality video files like HD movies and so on, makes you think about more and more storage space. now using external HDDs and high capacity flash drives is more common, and cost per gigabyte ratio is dropping down!

my first hard drive was a Quantum 8.4GB in my first PC, then a Western Digital 80GB on the new PC, then again another new PC and a Maxtor 250GB and after a while adding another Western Digital 250GB, so now i have total of 500GB space, and still need more space!

now I have a 8GB Transcend USB flash drive, heh... it's funny when i compare it to the old Quantum 8.4GB that is still operable!!!

in the past choosing a hard drive was easy but now it's more complicated because of new competitors and new dividing in this section! so if you want to buy a new HDD, you should know very more details about your options. and I think the well known tom's hardware site has a good article on it in it's winter-buy guide section.

so here is a link if you are interested:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/hdd-terabyte-1tb,review-31437.html